Timeline of Ulster Defence Regiment Operations - 1978

1978

• 1 January - 3 UDR takes over tactical responsibility for east & south Down from the regular Army. 1 UDR finds two handguns, a rifle and 600 rounds of ammunition in Larne, which were suspected to be loyalist weapons.
• February - 8 UDR deploys two companies for four days in an attempt to catch IRA members suspected of killing a corporal. 19 February - 3 UDR diverts 9 patrols from a planned operation to search hotels in the Belfast area in the wake of the La Mon Massacre. 1 UDR finds bomb-making ingredients in Dunloy.
• April - 3 UDR mounts a major operation on the basis of a tip-off and discovers a 100 lb booby trap.
• May - 10 UDR searches Balmoral Golf Club, Belfast and finds four sub-machine guns (three of them home-made), spare parts for the weapons and 600 rounds of ammunition: all suspected to be loyalist arms. 5 UDR arrests three suspects alleged to have been involved in attacks on bridges.
• July - 8 UDR recovers a rifle and ammunition from a car: the driver escaped. Later in the month the Operations Platoon from 8 UDR finds a rifle during a search of The Moy.
• August - 6 UDR discovers two IED's near Carrickmore. 10 UDR finds a rifle hidden in an attic during a house search.
• September - 1 UDR finds an SMG and a Sten gun at a farm outside Ballymena. These had been stolen by the IRA from Gough Barracks in 1954.
• December - 3 UDR Operations Platoon deployed to assist the public in areas threatened by rising flood waters over several days, rescuing a number of stranded people and providing hot food and blankets to others.